Using Technology to Support Higher Order Thinking

• How can technology be used to support higher-order thinking?
  • Higher-order thinking involves students engaging with information in a way that makes them engage, analyze, and create new information due to their understanding of the material. Technology can be a great way to have students interact with different topics by using things similar to simulations and virtual tours to have them get a better experience that a text book cannot provide. Simulations, for example, can allow students to engage and analyze information rather than simple answering questions with one word answers in a "Jeopardy" format. It is important for the teacher to make sure that whatever form of technology is in use is being used to promote higher-order thinking, rather than it becoming a game, not a tool that can be used for learning.
    

• Give an example of a technology that supports higher-order thinking and be specific in describing HOW it supports higher-order thinking.
  • Taking a virtual tour of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History can support higher-order thinking after the students have seen the exhibits and how they get information across just by simply looking at them and (without having to physically go to Washington DC). Exhibits that they have seen can be compared to exhibits in local museums. Also, they could be asked to create their own exhibit detailing a specific topic that they are studying, like dinosaurs for instance. How would they set up an exhibit to show the animal's habitat? How would they show how the dinosaur got it's food source? What other exhibits would they put around it to show it's place in chronological history? The application of the technology after it is experienced is crucial to knowing if the technology supports higher-order thinking or not.

Using Technology to Affirm Diversity

• How can technology be used to affirm diversity?
  • Technology can be used to affirm diversity because it can allow access to different experiences and people that cannot be brought into the classroom. Different cultures can be seen through a video, heard in a song, or read about with accompanying pictures. Technology can help a teacher expose his or her students to diversity by bringing them into contact with people, cultures, and art that they are not familiar with. The students must be shown how to celebrate, respect, and model different kinds of diversity.

• Give an example of a technology that affirms diversity and be specific in describing HOW it affirms diversity.
  • A great website that can affirm diversity is Afghanistan page on National Geographic's website. This page has links to articles, videos, and pictures that explain and demonstrate different aspects of Afghan culture. this is especially valuable in our current political climate since most students will automatically associate Afghanistan with the war and people that our country is fighting. By allowing students to explore the site and to come into some kind of contact with the Afghan people's way of life, this technology can promote a better understanding of a culture that is greatly misunderstood in America. It can also create the idea that the individual student is a global citizen, not just a citizen of the united States.

Using Technology to Support All Learners

• How can technology be used to address the needs of learners with special needs?
  • Technology can be used to help special needs learners access the curriculum. Because there are many different ways that students can best learn, technology that is best experienced through audio, touching, viewing, and so on can greatly help students fully experience what is being taught. There are simple ways to assist students such as pencil grips to advanced tools that can be used such as sound boards.

• Give an example and explain how it would support students with special/diverse needs in your future classroom?
  • Pencil grips and book lights would be two simple forms of technology that can greatly assist my futures students that my need different ways of learning in my classroom. Since I will be teaching English or history, there will be a lot of reading and writing involved. If there are students that have seeing or motor skill disabilities, these two simple tools can help them fully experience the material and get the most out of the class and lesson. Another technology that can be used is a "talking book." By scanning the pages of novels or books into the computer and adding sound to the text, a student who may not be able to hear well or have an issue with sight, can have autonomy when completing the reading for the class. The Virtual History Museum is another great tool that can help students experience history in many mediums that can adhere to many diverse need that students my have.